Jon Corby wrote:Yeah, that kind of thing always staggers me. I think there was a bit in the parkrun news once about a 100,000m runner, and they ran each of their twenty consecutive 5k's comfortably faster than I can do one

The 10,000m world record is done at pretty much the same speed I run a 200m race at

The world record is 26:17.53, which is 1577.53 seconds. So divide by 10,000 and multiply by 200 and you get 31.55 seconds. That's a ridiculously fast time to be able to maintain. I don't know what I could do over 200m, but I don't imagine it's much faster than that anyway.

I think my PB is about 28s, was always a plodder at school. I might be faster now, thirty years later!

Nice work. I will add this on. I didn't run today because I have some pain in my leg (hamstring or something). It's a bit annoying because I'm in my best form right now, and if I have to take time off then it will take a while to climb back up there.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

I presume most of you are aware, but Little Stoke parkrun (near Bristol) has been called off after the council decided to charge them. Well, it's been called off this weekend because they thought thousands of people might turn up. The charge wouldn't apply until 28th May I think, so I'm not sure if it's off for good now.

Tim Down wrote:I'm running London Marathon in two weeks and then will be having a go at improving on 17:45 by the end of summer. I'm not convinced I'll find an extra 17 seconds though.

I see from here that you got 2:57:19 in the London Marathon, so congratulations on that! I'd like to do a marathon one day and maybe get under three hours, but I think it's still a way off.

Thanks. I had originally hoped to go a little quicker but based on my (lack of) speed in training I decided to aim for 6:45 per mile and 2:57 overall, so I'm quite pleased I managed to achieve close to that. I would've been upset not to have gone under 3 hours given the amount of training I did, especially since it was at the expense of practising harder and more effectively for the series finals of Countdown.

Based on your half marathon time you should have a good chance of going under 3 hours in a marathon. I don't know how much training you did for your half, but a marathon really is a big step up training-wise if you want to stay strong over the last few miles. I quite enjoy it but it takes commitment.

Me and James Laverty both did the Woodhouse Moor parkrun in Leeds on Saturday as we were both there for CO:Leeds. There were 445 runners and the results were:

10. Gevin Chapwell - 19:04 (PB)
69. James Laverty - 21:53 (PB)

I now break the tie I had with Jonathan Rawlinson on 19:09 but now tie with James Bradley on 19:04! James Laverty overtakes Ian Volante and Kirk Bevins. Kirk Bevins has also overtaken Ian Volante as he's secretly beaten his PB in the meantime. The current ranking are below:

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

My local parkrun is having its 100th run tomorrow so that will be fun. That also means it will be celebrating its second anniversary soon.

Gavin Chipper wrote:I didn't run today because I have some pain in my leg (hamstring or something). It's a bit annoying because I'm in my best form right now, and if I have to take time off then it will take a while to climb back up there.

This still exists by the way. I think it's a tendon thing. I've barely been running at all for over a month now - basically 5km a week (the parkrun) - but I've tried to generally keep fit on a cross trainer thing. As well as not running much, I've tried various exercises for it. It's definitely much better than it was but it's not cured, and despite my overall PB last week, I think my times will gradually start to take a turn for the worse if I don't get back into proper running soon.

The latest table is below. Dave Nicholson has gone past Jon Corby, Ian Volant and Kirk Bevins. He would have gone past James Laverty as well, but he improved himself this weekend.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

Oliver Garner was just one second outside his PB of 17:29. I took 33 seconds off my PB of 19:04! Stephen Read missed out on his official PB of 29:43 by 31 seconds. I say "official PB" because he tells me that they messed up the synchronisation of times and positions when he allegedly set his PB, and his time was more like 30:30 (I think). So this would be a PB.

Also, Stephen says that his GPS watch measured the King's Lynn parkrun as quite a way short - by over 200 metres. I think he measured it at 4.78km (so 220 metres short). But there are reasons to doubt that exact figure. Apparently GPS watches don't continuously measure your position, but instead take measurements every so often, and then assumes you ran a straight line between the points. King's Lynn parkrun has a 180-degree hairpin turn, so unless the GPS watch registers at exactly the right moment, it will measure short. It is also a three-lap course, so there would have been three opportunities for this. On top of the hairpin turn, there are several quite tight corners, which the GPS watch could under-measure, by "cutting" them.

There is also the ultra scientific measure of how well I felt I did. My PB (at Leeds) was 19:04 (I also have a 19:09 and 19:13 from Chelmsford and Lincoln). This felt to me like a much stronger run than any of those. It was a nicer course anyway (less gradient), and I finished much stronger (passing people rather than being passed), and I was confident of sub 19 minutes, even if not 18:31. 18:31 is 1111 seconds, and if you multiply that by 5/4.78 you get 1162 seconds, or 19:22. There's no way I ran as slow as 19:22. Conservatively, if I say I ran 18:59, that's 1139 seconds. 5*1111/1139 = 4.877km, which would make it 123 metres short. I think even that is an overestimate, but you could make a case for a ballpark of 100 metres.

But the bottom line is that it counts. My official PB is now 18:31. Also, Stephen Read will make his debut on the C4C leaderboard.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

The course has been measured several times with recognised measuring wheel. There will be a shorter line if you cut all the corners off! But we do know that many garmin watches etc vary with their distance from week to week due to satellite reception amongst the trees.

That explanation makes sense. I did notice that coming back down after the hairpin turn, my watch got confused with pacing, indicating a much slower pace than I was actually running. Didn't pay too much attention to the distance at that part, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was also confused about that.

But like you said, it counts, and I'll gladly take 30:14. Here's hoping for a legit sub-30 before long.

Updated list with Stephen's improvement putting him ahead of Zubair. And happy 30th birthday for whenever that was.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

Stephen R wrote:Took another big chunk off my PB. First time I've finished in the top half of the field.

Nice work. James Laverty has also improved recently, so the new list is below:

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

21:24 (and I had to tie my shoelaces at 0.5k, really annoying). My course is very flat and I don't have any tech so I don't know how long it actually is. My best time on a treadmill is 22:45, is that common? I thought running outside was meant to be harder but I've been 80 seconds faster.

I actually found out about this because Toby Pereira posted it on facebook. Did he not want to be mentioned on the list?

I've never seen that Richard Brittain video before. I have no idea what to make of it. I mean it's pretty funny, but if you have a sense of humour you wouldn't travel across the country to attack some girl for criticising your book.

21:24 (and I had to tie my shoelaces at 0.5k, really annoying). My course is very flat and I don't have any tech so I don't know how long it actually is. My best time on a treadmill is 22:45, is that common? I thought running outside was meant to be harder but I've been 80 seconds faster.

How long do you think the shoelaces took? At least it's a time you can go on to beat now! I've never run on a treadmill, so dunno.

I actually found out about this because Toby Pereira posted it on facebook. Did he not want to be mentioned on the list?

He's on the list in the same way you now are.

I've never seen that Richard Brittain video before. I have no idea what to make of it. I mean it's pretty funny, but if you have a sense of humour you wouldn't travel across the country to attack some girl for criticising your book.

I still like that video so I thought I might as well link to it anyway, despite his crimes. New list below:

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

21:24 (and I had to tie my shoelaces at 0.5k, really annoying). My course is very flat and I don't have any tech so I don't know how long it actually is. My best time on a treadmill is 22:45, is that common? I thought running outside was meant to be harder but I've been 80 seconds faster.

How long do you think the shoelaces took? At least it's a time you can go on to beat now! I've never run on a treadmill, so dunno.

I actually found out about this because Toby Pereira posted it on facebook. Did he not want to be mentioned on the list?

He's on the list in the same way you now are.

I think it cost me 10 or 15 seconds. So hopefully I'll hit 21m next weekend. I must be missing something because I don't see him on there. [investigates] oh okay, haha.

My name's Conrad Teixeira not JJ Smith btw - for some reason the accounts I tried to make with my real name were never passed by moderators so I made one up.

Does anyone else volunteer after running? I asked to do results processing so I don't have to wait to find out my time, but the RD usually does that. I like sorting the tokens though, it takes your attention from the tiredness. And I'm really lucky because the starting point for mine is a 5 minute walk from my house.

I've updated the list to include Giles's new PB. He's now just one second behind Adam Gillard! Also, Adam Curran has been discovered to be a parkrunner, so he's a new entry on this list with a decent PB of 21:14!

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

I've updated the list. Jonathan Rawlinson has also sneaked past James Bradley with a time of 18:50, making him the fifth runner to go under 19 minutes!

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

JJ Smith wrote:I did 20:40 today. I should be there for Huddersfield and I'm aiming for 19:30.

Nice job. That's quite a big jump though - another 1:10!

I haven't been able to improve for a while because I've still got this hamstring injury. I'm going on holiday for three weeks so, so I won't be as tempted to go on a run, so hopefully it will get a chance to heal properly, and I'll be smashing PBs again by the end of the year.

Here's the latest list. I've decided to put rank numbers in. 21 on the list now - anyone know anyone else who does parkruns from C4C/Apterous?

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

I updated this today after Corby informed me he's back running and has taken 7 seconds off his PB. I checked everyone else too. Laverty has improved a bit since I last checked, but Dave Nicholson has improved by 50 seconds and gone up two places! I also hear that Lauren Hamer is back running again, which is good news.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

Corby has just knocked 20 seconds of his PB to go past Ian Volante, under 22 minutes and level with Kirk.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

At the Huddersfield parkrun on Saturday before COHUD, CO-event newcomer Mike Springett ran it in 23:07. He was the only participant from COHUD as far as I'm aware, so that's a win for him. He has a PB of 20:36, which puts him 10th on the list (see below). It would be 9th, but I found out that Tom Hargreaves is also a parkrunner and has a PB of 20:20 putting him 9th! So the likes of Corby have slipped down two places.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

There's no evidence that Adam Gillard did a parkrun today. Just New Year's Day left for him. In other news, Oliver Garner has beaten the Countdown community record with a time of 17:22!

Gavin Chipper wrote:Right, I'm going to put up a ranking list of Countdown/Apterous parkrunners. I'll check it every so often to see if anyone's beaten their PB, and if anyone is really insistent that they don't want to be on the list, then I can remove their name. And if I've forgotten anyone, let me know and I can add them. This list is unlikely to be anywhere near exhaustive.

By the way, why is it then when I question why the AD/BC system should have Christmas Day on 1st January, why do most people not get what I'm talking about? Is everyone fucking stupid? Not only should people get what I'm talking about, they should all have already thought of it independently themselves.